New & Noteworthy J-pop of the Week (January 28, 2024)
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New & Noteworthy J-pop of the Week (January 28, 2024)

In connection with my desire to fully keep up with the J-pop industry, I’m planning to do a weekly round-up of any new releases that have caught my ear. Some of these may have been covered on the blog already, but my hope is that this will become a one-stop shop for anyone interested in … Continue reading

Grading the J-Pop Agencies 2023: Johnny’s & Associates / Family Club / (Who Knows?)
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Grading the J-Pop Agencies 2023: Johnny’s & Associates / Family Club / (Who Knows?)

The Good Prior to the agency undergoing dramatic changes this fall, the entity-formerly-known-as-Johnny’s (seriously, I don’t even know what to call it!) had a solid enough start to the year. Its acts continued to dominate, with record sales numbers for King & Prince ahead of their reconfiguration and Snow Man leading the charge for the … Continue reading

Song Review: Snow Man – Dangerholic
Review

Song Review: Snow Man – Dangerholic

Snow Man’s Dangerholic acts as the ending theme to member Meguro Ren’s newest drama Trillion Game. The series’ fast, freewheeling energy requires an equally splashy, confident song. Dangerholic delivers this energy, stuffed with brass and guitar and big, singalong hooks. The guys have performed shortened versions of this song for weeks now, so I’m not … Continue reading

Song Review: Snow Man – Slow…
Review

Song Review: Snow Man – Slow…

After the slam dunk success of double a-side Tapestry/W earlier this year, I’ve been less enthused with the tracks Snow Man are promoting for their upcoming album. It’s only natural they’d want to showcase different facets of their sound, but neither last week’s Aikotoba nor yesterday’s Slow are the style of songs I love from the … Continue reading